EMU returns from it’s victory over WMU to play Ball State, 5-6 overall, and 1-1 in MAC play. Massey says EMU has 59 percent chance to beat BSU on Saturday.
After beating Bowling Green 81-80, Ball State lost tonight to Kent State, 65-64. Luke Bumbalough, Ball State’s leading scorer in non-conference play shot but 1-9 from the field tonight.
Both EMU and Ball State played Western Illinois in non-conference play.
EMU beat Western Illinois by 4-points, 72-68. Ball State lost to Western Illinois by 13-points, 93-80.
Ball State likes to push the ball up the court and last season ran a lot of pick and rolls. Not sure if threir running as many pick and rolls this season. as many this season.
On defense, Ball State likes to stop the catch and shoot and force opponents to drive to the hoop. .
Not sure what on any given, Ball State will bring to the table. Overall their offense is better than their defense.
In conference play, Ball State has given up more steals (9 per game) than they have made (5 per game)
Ball State likes to shoot the three ball. Shot three’s well in non-conference games (36.6 percent), but in conference play Ball State has taken the most three’s (28 per game) and shot them at only 28.6 percent. Did shoot three’s well in first half of KSU game, but not in the second half.
Ball State is a good two point shooting team as is EMU when it spreads the court and forces turnovers on defense.
Ball State was not a good defender of the two-ball in non-conference play, but defended two’s well in it’s two conference games. Emu, with N.Scott playing substantial minutes should help EMU defend the hoop well. If Njie plays, EMU’s offense and defense will struggle.
In non-conference play, opponents shot well on two’s at 50 percent, but not so far in conference play as it’s opponents have just shot just 43.6 percent on two’s.
In non-conference play, Ball Sate has averaged 74 ppg, opponents 77 ppg. .
In two conference games, BSU has averaged 73 ppg, opponents also 73 ppg.
In non-conference games, Ball State’s starters were 6’1” G Luke Bumbalough, 12 ppg; 6’2” G Tyler Cochran , 11 ppg: 6’9” F Payton Sparks, 10 ppg; 6’8” F M.Thomas 9 ppg; and 6’5” G Jalen Windham, 8 ppg.
One reason point averages are so low is because HC rests his players and has a deep rotation.
Coming off the bench are 6’2” G D.Jacob’s, 7 ppg, 6’7 F Mickey Pearson, 6 ppg; and 6’5 G. J. Sellers, 5 ppg. Other players are also in the rotation.
In conference play, freshman Sparks has been Ball State’s top scorer at 16.5 ppg. Shooting 66 percent on 2’s, 9 rebounds per game, including 3 offensive rebounds per game. Takes over 7 foul shots s per game. Will be interesting to see what defenses Heath employs to stop the 6’9” Sparks. Don’t think any ENU player can slow down his scoring inside.
Other players have been averaging about the same as they did in non-conference games.
G Luke Bumbalough mostly shoots three’s and shot them sat 37.8 percent in conference play. He likes to push ball up court and stop and pop.
G Cochran is an excellent 2-point shooter. Both F Thomas and G Jacob’s are excellent three-point shooters. Sellers is an excellent two and three point shooter. Pearson is not a good shooter. do
6’2” guard Luke Brown averages 9 per game. Is a very good shooting 2ms and three’s alike. Did not play in last two’s
Also, Windham diid not play in either of BSU’s conference game and was replaced by D. Jacob’s in the starting line-up. Not known if Windham will play against EMU. He’s not a good shooter.
Cochran and Thomas turn it over a lot.
While WMU is not a good offensive team when it played Ohio, the MAC’s leader, Ohio only scored 59-points, shot 48 percent on two’s, and 15 percent (3-20) on three’s. Playing WMU, EMU scored 85-points, shot 63 percent on two’s, and 35 percent on three’s. This is indication that EMU may score well playing Ohio.
If EMU had maintained it’s 17-point lead playing WMU to the end of the game, EMU would have risen higher in national polls.
Eastern Michigan took a big step in the WMU game finding it’s identity. To win, EMU must continue to play a pressure defense thus forcing more turnover and speeding up opponent shots, defend the three-line, spread the court on offense so players can get to the hoop.
Emu is now highlighting the strengths of their players skill-sets.
EMU’s one glaring weakness is guarding the rim. Hopefully, HC Heath will
start N.Scott playing BSU.
CBS Sport’s RPI has EMU rated 128th best team in the nation, third among the top tier teams in the MAC. Ohio is ranked 1, Toledo 2. KSU, the fourth place team is at 162, a good distance behind EMU. Ball State at 269.
I look upon EMU’s ranking as to where EMU can go if they continue to grow and develop.
At home, Buffalo beats Bowling Green 99-88. Buffalo’s J, Williams ledd Buffal in scoring with 22-points. Segu and Skogman each scored 20 points. 1-2 in MAC play. Bowling Green was led by S. Curtis, 25-points. Bowling Green now 0-2 in MAC play.
EMU committed four less turnovers than WMU, as EMU made a great effort ito force more WMU turnovers. Unfortunately, it did so only in the first half. If it had tried to force turnovers in the second half, SMU would have scored 95 to 100 points. In order to win the Ball State game it must force even more turnovers throughout the game.
EMU must also foul less and protect the rim. These two areas may well effect the outcome of Saturday’s game. EMU won’t be a complete team with few weaknesses till they do.
In the WMU game, EMU committed 20-fouls, WMU 22-fouls. Even though the majority of EMU’s fouls were shooting fouls, WMU committed even more shooting fouls. resulting in EMU shooting 28 foul-shots compared to WMU taking 18 foul shots. EMU shot poorly from the foul-line, resulted in EMU scoring only 3-more points than WMU did from the FIU-line.
EMU guards Spottsville and Farrakhan each committed 3 fouls, and two bigs Ballard and Jihad, both playing few minutes, each also committed 3-fouls. Spottsville and Farrakhan need to cut their fouling down to one foul per every 15-20 minutes of playing time and not the once every 10 minutes as they committed playing WMU.
Unless Ballard and Jihad are taught how to defend the rim better without fouling, they should not play in the Ball State game as they along with other EMU bigs did not defend the rim, as WMU shot 58 percent on two’s. Simply can’t have players on the court who foul every three or four minutes as they do.
If N.Scott is available to play, he should play instead, as he’s both a good rim protector, and he rarely commits fouls. N.Scott needs to play 30 or more minutes, not the 25 minutes he’s been playing.
McBride, Binelli, and Golson each committed 2-fouls. They all need to play as they’re scorers, but they need to reduce their number of fouls.
Monty was the only player to play substantial minutes and he committed only one foul, and that was a non-shooting foul. But, he did miss two foul-shots.
Monty commits EMU’s fewest fouls and makes it’s most steals as he has been taught to do both.
Other EMU players need to also be taught to play defense aggressively without fouling.
They need to think in terms in making the opponent take a bad shot, and know during the course of defending that they have done their job and there’s no reason to foul the shooter. Watching EMU defenders, they foul as they’re totally unaware they’re making a shooter take a bad shot.
For me, any two-point shot that is taken 3 or 4 feet or more from beyond the hoop while the opponent is moving is a bad shot if the defender is between the shooter and the basket, and gives ground with his hands up. such circumstance there’s no reason to foul the shooter. Hope in watching a play you agree as well.
The University of Virginia has embraced and accepted this concept and is why the commit few fouls per game, and gives -up few points.
Even though EMU is playing on their home court, and it’s more likely to get more ref foul calls made against Ball State. EMU players need to do a better job reducing their fouling especially their shooting fouls.
Unlike WMU, Ball State is not likely to shoot foul shots significantly better than EMU will.
EMU committed far fewer fouls in it’s last few non-conference games, but due to EMU not pressuring the ball but it’s fouling increased because it did pressure the ball more. EMU needs to pressure the ball and force BAll State turnovers even more than they did in the WMU game as they need to win the turnover battle decisively, and must do so without excessively fouling.
I hope if Njie is available he does not play as he’s a terrible defender of the rim, as he’s immobile and can not guard quicker players. He also has EMU’s highest turnover and foul rate. He’s playing in the low-post also other players from scoring as much as they should be at the hoop.
Wil be interesting to see if Kent State can travel to Ohio and beat them Friday night,and thus eliminate one of the three remaining undefeated MAC teams.
Hopefully, Akron will also beat undefeated MOH on Saturday. Don’t think that will happen. Since they run, it’s vry difficult to out-score MOH. They have high positive turnover margin. Hard to beat them if they maintain that. Shoots few three’s but shoots them very well. Hit their two’s in one conference game. Need to see if they can sustain that. Didn’t score well at times in non-conference games. Team to keep an eye on. The game starts 1 1/2 hours before undefeated EMU faces off against Ball State at home.
Some Akron players have Covid so Akron’s game at MOH has been canceled. Instead, MOH will play at Bowling Green on Saturday. Both
teams can score. Sophomore G it KU Samari Curtis worth watching. BG needs to prove it can defend it’s home court.
For EMU to prove it’s a top tier team in the MAC, it must show with home fans encouraging them on, that EMU can score 80 plus points again and that it doing so in the WMU game was no fluke. EMU needs to dominate a decent scoring team, and Ball State is a solid team. EMU hasn’t put all it’s parts together in any prior game, and this is the time to both do so and to do so convincingly to show that EMU is a team to be reckoned with.
EMU must come out aggressively on defense just as it did in the WMU game. As such resulted in 6 EMU players shooting 50 percent or better on 2-point shots.
EMU can’t take it’s foot off the pedal as they did in the second-half that allowed WMU to lower the scoring deficit from 17-points to 6-points at the end of the game. Time to finish off opponents st end of games.
EMU’s forcing turnovers will fuel EMU’s offense. If N.Scott, who missed the WMU, plays significant minutes, opponents should see their scoring markedly drop from the 70’s to being in the 60’s.
EMU needs to also play on the defensive perimeter above the three-point line to stop the three-ball.
If EMU continues spreads the court on offense, it should score at the rim and get to the foul-line a good bit.
Want to see EMU emerge from this game with no losses on EMU’s home court, and with a 2-0 MAC record, and other teams chasing EMU, and not EMU chasing them.
Go Eagles!
If EMU loses the Ball St game, I would be very, very disappointed. My hope/expectation do against Ball St what they did for 37 minutes against WMU, and hopefully can sustain it until the end. Ball St is a better team then WMU, but this is one is at home. We’ll see, if EMU loses any of the next few, will not be a good sign.
I have a feeling Monty is going to have a great game.
EMU by 4
Western Michigan v. Central Michigan game postponed. Wonder of that will effect CMU playing EMU on Tuesday.
Ohio leading Kent State 41-26 at half-time.
(01-07-2022 07:25 PM)Miggy Wrote: [ -> ]Ohio leading Kent State 41-26 at half-time.
I'm sure hoping Heath can do what Jeff Boals has done in season THREE! Ohio U was picked dead last in the MAC in 2019, we were picked number 11! Ohio U is clearly the best team so far! This's what a way above average coach does!
(01-07-2022 07:35 PM)EMUGLORYDAYSthe90s Wrote: [ -> ] (01-07-2022 07:25 PM)Miggy Wrote: [ -> ]Ohio leading Kent State 41-26 at half-time.
I'm sure hoping Heath can do what Jeff Boals has done in season THREE! Ohio U was picked dead last in the MAC in 2019, we were picked number 11! Ohio U is clearly the best team so far! This's what a way above average coach does!
A coach can bring out and get good play from his players, but he’s still limited by the players he has.
I don’t see Ohio being nearly as good as Toledo is, nor have as many good scores as EMU does.
As yet, I can’t accept that Ohio is a top tier MAC team
when it only beat St. Francis(Pa) not that long ago, ranked 314th in the nation by only 3-points on Ohio’s home court.
Ohio beat Kent State 80-72. KSU played without starter Santiago who was injured.
You may be right, but I’m not convinced Ohio is the best team in the MAC as Ohio only averaged 64-points in it’s first to games because one of it’s three best scorers Ben Vander Plas (Sears and Carter are the other two) scored but 9 and 11 points in each game. He’s a three point shooter and when’s he’s defended or off as he was in those games, he became a non-factor.
Ander Plas was off in his prior six games prior to tonight shooting three’s as he shot 16.6 percent (4-24) on three’s in those six games. Ohio won those 6 games, but it was there defense that did so, and some of those wins were against lowly rated teams by small scoring margins.
Tonight Van Plas scored 20-points on 10 fga’s, including shooting 6-9 on three’s. Shut him down his three’s or he’s off, Ohio will have trouble scoring 70 points as they did in their first two MAC games. But if he continues to replicate what he did tonight against better teams or teams that try to deny him shooting three’s, you may be right.
(01-07-2022 08:44 PM)Miggy Wrote: [ -> ] (01-07-2022 07:35 PM)EMUGLORYDAYSthe90s Wrote: [ -> ] (01-07-2022 07:25 PM)Miggy Wrote: [ -> ]Ohio leading Kent State 41-26 at half-time.
I'm sure hoping Heath can do what Jeff Boals has done in season THREE! Ohio U was picked dead last in the MAC in 2019, we were picked number 11! Ohio U is clearly the best team so far! This's what a way above average coach does!
A coach can bring out and get good play from his players, but he’s still limited by the players he has.
I don’t see Ohio being nearly as good as Toledo is, nor have as many good scores as EMU does.
As yet , I can’t accept that Ohio is a top tier MAC team
When it only beat St.Francis (Pa) not that long ago, ranked 314th in the nation by only 3-points, on Ohio’s home court.
Ohio beat Kent State 80-72.KSU played without starter Santiago who was injured.
You may be right, but I’m not convinced Ohio is the best team in the MAC as Ohio only averaged 64-points in it’s first to games because one of it’s three best scorers Ben Vander Plas (Sears and Carter are the other two) scored but 9 and 11 points in each game. He’s a three point shooter and when’s he’s defended or off as he was in those games, he became a non-factor.
Ander Plas was off in his prior six games prior to tonight shooting three’s as he shot 16.6 percent (4-24) on three’s in those six games. Ohio won those 6 games, but it was there defense that did so, and some of those wins were against lowly rated teams by small scoring margins.
Tonight Van Plas scored 20-points on 10 fga’s, including shooting 6-9 on three’s. Shut him down his three’s or he’s off, Ohio will have trouble scoring 70 points as they did in their first two MAC games. But if he continues to replicate what he did tonight against better teams or teams that try to deny him shooting three’s, you may be right.
Toledo looks like the best MAC West team so far, but Toledo has been very good for awhile! Ohio U has come along way in just 3 seasons!
EMU 1.5 point favorite’s to beat Ball State.
Bowling Green 2-point favorite’s to beat MOH.
Toledo leads NIU 47-28 at the half.
Great start for Monty Scott. I hope this is him getting out of his funk. We need his scoring.
We also sorely missed Nate Scott last game, even in a win.
Ball State went on 9-1 run since I got here, and now lead 26 to 22.
Noah is scoreless????
(01-08-2022 04:11 PM)RamyEMU Wrote: [ -> ]Ball State went on 9-1 run since I got here, and now lead 26 to 22.
Noah is scoreless????
He’s taking way too many 3’s. Not sure why he isn’t attacking the rim more. Same with Monty. Both being a bit too passive right now.